[{"bbox": [172, 153, 1133, 206], "category": "List-item", "text": "accredited to the country's continued strong recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as policies developed to address the economic impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine."}, {"bbox": [135, 207, 1133, 312], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ The positive fiscal performance resulted from higher than programmed Revenue and Grants ($59,985.7 million above-budget) as Expenditure (excluding amortization) also exceeded the original budget projection. Central Government operations over the period also produced a primary surplus of $119,267.1mn, which exceeded target by 110.4%."}, {"bbox": [135, 338, 1133, 472], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ Tax Revenue in FY22/23 out-performed the projected inflows of $467,205.4mn by 11.2%. As a share of GDP, the tax revenue for the period continue to out-perform the outturns for the pre-COVID period, following the fall off during the peak of the pandemic in FY 2020/21 (see Figure 3B). The positive performance relative to budget is attributable to higher than programmed outturns from the three tax categories: International Trade, Income and Profit and Production and Consumption"}, {"bbox": [97, 498, 1121, 578], "category": "Text", "text": "**Conclusion:** The overall surplus in FY2022/23 was in line with the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) and slightly exceeded IMF targets. In the context of the strong recovery, the prudent fiscal stance was supported by a rebound in tax revenue driven by buoyant collection of direct taxes."}, {"bbox": [97, 604, 1118, 656], "category": "Text", "text": "In conclusion, the public finance management reform strategy is sufficiently relevant and credible, including on domestic revenue mobilisation, and the eligibility criterion is met."}, {"bbox": [85, 670, 551, 697], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 2.3.4 Transparency and Oversight of the Budget"}, {"bbox": [97, 725, 1133, 781], "category": "Text", "text": "The entry point remains met as the 2024/25 budget was debated in Parliament starting March 12, and published on April 12, 2024."}, {"bbox": [97, 799, 1133, 941], "category": "Text", "text": "The Transparency and Oversight of the Budget are enhanced in terms of information included in the Budget documents and made accessible to the public, reports issued on the in-year and end-of-year execution of the Budget, thorough and punctual external audit of the Budget Appropriations, as well as active legislative scrutiny of Budget execution by the relevant Committees of Parliament, and the publication of an annual Citizen's Guide to the Budget."}, {"bbox": [135, 958, 1133, 1215], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ The GOJ has joined the Open Government Programme (OGP) and committed to the OGP process, as the objectives of the OGP coincide well with the GOJ's anti-corruption policy and strategies towards achieving greater transparency, accountability, public sector efficiency and the overall strengthening of governance. The November 2022 review considers most commitments in this action plan promising as they demonstrate robust designs to tackle key areas for the country, such as access to information, the environment, and the country's youth. Three of them fall short, however, in describing clearly and in detail how they could make the government more open. Commitment 1, for example, proposes including stakeholders in future implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NAS)."}, {"bbox": [135, 1228, 1133, 1428], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ Budget transparency and budget oversight functions are effective: budget presentation and published budget-linked information on the central government budget operations, as well as on sub-national governments and public bodies' budgets, are comprehensive, timely and reliable. Public access to fiscal information is widespread when the budget is presented, as well as during budget execution and after closure. Oversight on public procurement activities is credible, while overall external and legislative oversight on budget execution by the AuGD, PAAC and PAC is conducted on an independent, well-organised and convincing manner."}, {"bbox": [135, 1441, 1133, 1583], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ For FY 2024/2025 the GOJ published for the sixth time, a Citizen's guide to the budget. The citizens' guide provides a summary explanation of macroeconomic projections underlying the budget, the main fiscal aggregates, the composition of budget revenues and expenditures, and a summary of the main policy priorities in the budget. The guide presents aspects of the budget to a wider cross-section of persons in an easy reading format with less emphasis on the total recurrent expenditures of use of technical jargon."}, {"bbox": [1023, 1680, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 14 of 32"}]